News

​​​NICHD issues News Releases and Media Advisories to the news media. Spotlight and Research Feature articles explain NICHD research findings and public health issues to the general public. An Item of Interest is a short announcement of relevant information, such as a notable staff change.

Media Advisory: NIH-funded study to investigate pregnancy outcomes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic

Researchers to evaluate medical records of 21,000 pregnant women

Media Availability: NIH maternal mortality workshop to address conditions that increase the risk of life-threatening pregnancy complications

Program will include lessons learned from caring for pregnant women with COVID-19.

Release: NIH’s PregSource research project now available in Spanish

To expand the reach of its crowdsourcing pregnancy research project, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently launched a Spanish version of PregSource®.

Spotlight: Healthy Pregnancy for Every Body

NICHD’s new initiative—Pregnancy for Every Body—educates plus-size pregnant women about healthy pregnancy and the importance of working with a healthcare provider to develop a pregnancy plan.

Science Update: Sleeping position during early and mid pregnancy does not affect risk of complications, NIH-funded study suggests

Sleeping on the back or side through the 30th week of pregnancy does not appear to increase the risk of stillbirth, reduced size at birth, or high blood pressure disorders of pregnancy, suggests an analysis funded by the NICHD.

Release: Higher air pollution exposure during second pregnancy may increase preterm birth risk, NIH study suggests

Pregnant women who are exposed to higher air pollution levels during their second pregnancy, compared to their first one, may be at greater risk of preterm birth, according to researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Media Advisory: NIH scientists call for coordinated research to improve pregnancy-related health in the United States

Improved data reporting among the factors critical to reducing life-threatening complications of pregnancy and childbirth

Release: Elevated blood pressure in first trimester increases risk for blood pressure disorder later in pregnancy

Elevated blood pressure in the first trimester of pregnancy, or an increase in blood pressure between the first and second trimesters, raises the chances of a high blood pressure disorder of pregnancy, according to a study funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Spotlight: NICHD Workshops Aim to Change Conversations About Maternal Health

Patient advocates, healthcare providers and researchers help map a future research agenda aimed at reducing maternal mortality and severe morbidity.

Spotlight: Maternal Health Research Advances

NICHD was established more than 50 years ago to help understand maternal health and improve pregnancy outcomes. These selected advances highlight NICHD’s contributions to advancing the health and well-being of pregnant women, mothers, and families everywhere.

Podcast: Research on Maternal Deaths and Childbirth Complications

Each year in the United States, 700 women die from pregnancy or childbirth complications – one of the highest maternal death rates in the developed world. Listen to Milestones interview with Dr. Juanita Chinn from NICHD’s Population Dynamics Branch.

Release: Kids living near major roads at higher risk of developmental delays, NIH study suggests

Young children who live close to a major roadway are twice as likely to score lower on tests of communications skills, compared to those who live farther away from a major roadway, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Podcast: Infertility: Men’s Health

Dr. Enrique Schisterman, Chief of the Epidemiology Branch shares his personal struggle with infertility, which led him to dedicate a research career focusing on ways to help couples boost fertility.

Media Advisory: Air pollution exposure in early pregnancy linked to miscarriage, NIH study suggests

Exposure to common air pollutants, such as ozone and fine particles, may increase the risk of early pregnancy loss, according to an NIH study.

NICHD research links air pollution and extreme temperature to stillbirth risk

NICHD’s Pauline Mendola examines whether air pollution and extreme temperature increase the risk of stillbirth.

NICHD’s Safe to Sleep Campaign with Dr. Marian Willinger

A conversation with Dr. Marian Willinger before her retirement. Dr. Willinger helped launch NICHD’s Safe to Sleep campaign and led research efforts on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, stillbirth and infant health.

Getting to Know the New NICHD Director

NICHD Director Dr. Diana Bianchi shares some thoughts about joining NICHD.

New treatment regimen cuts severity of drug-resistant malaria in pregnancy

A two-drug preventive treatment greatly reduces the severity of malaria during pregnancy, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The treatment provides an alternative for many parts of Africa where the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum has grown resistant to standard treatment.

US stillbirth rates unchanged after move to discourage elective deliveries before 39 weeks

The recommendation to delay delivery of otherwise healthy infants until at least the 39th week of pregnancy does not appear to have increased stillbirths in the United States, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

NICHD Supports Wide Range of Research on the Placenta

The placenta is a temporary organ that connects a mother and her fetus. It performs multiple functions, acting as the fetus’s lungs, kidneys, and liver, as well as the gastrointestinal, endocrine, and immune systems. It produces hormones to help maintain pregnancy and support fetal development, and it protects the fetus from the mother’s immune system. There is even a role for the placenta in determining the timing of birth.
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